


Sunflower

by DemyxDancer



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game), Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Stardew Valley Fusion, F/F, Fluff, Inaccurate Depictions of Farming, Questionable Life Decisions, Slice of Life, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 23:13:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29990280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemyxDancer/pseuds/DemyxDancer
Summary: When Peridot ditches her soulless corporate job to go restore an old farm, no one really seems to think she'll last. Equipped only with stubbornness and farming guides she pulled from the internet, Peridot attempts to make a new life in Stardew Valley.She was expecting the farm work to be grueling. She wasn't expecting to explore a cave with a constantly shifting layout. Or to meet a woman in the woods who is definitely a witch, no matter what she claims. Or to develop a crush on the local starving artist.Peridot has no idea what she's doing, but she's going to do it anyway.[A fusion of Steven Universe and Stardew Valley! Specific knowledge of either is not required.]
Relationships: Blue Zircon & Peridot (Steven Universe), Lapis Lazuli/Peridot (Steven Universe)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 37





	Sunflower

The remnants of the winter’s cold wind blew through a vast field, overgrown with tall grass and wildflowers, strewn with rocks and rotted wood. An abandoned greenhouse, its glass walls cracked and covered in grime, rattled dangerously. Nearby, there stood a modest cottage, barely larger than a shack, its fresh coat of paint doing little to hide its age and condition.

It was a world of life, of endless possibility. A world so far removed from cubicles and status meetings and Powerpoint presentations that Peridot felt as though she had stepped into something surreal – beautiful, but unsettling. There was mud on her shoes and bits of leaves in her hair.

“I wonder if it’s too late to go get my old job back,” she said to herself, the panicked knot in her heart growing tighter.

“Hey there! You must be Peridot!” The loud voice startled Peridot out of her contemplation. She turned to see a tall, broad shouldered woman with rainbow-colored dreadlocks emerge from the cottage. “I’m Bismuth. Nice to finally meet you. It’s about time you got here.”

“It’s six in the morning,” Peridot protested, clutching her paper cup of coffee.

Bismuth’s laugh filled the morning air. “Are you sure you’re ready for the farming life?”

“Yes, absolutely!” said Peridot, who had never been less sure of anything in her entire life.

“Well, good,” said Bismuth, skeptical of her answer. “What do you think of your new place? I did the best I could, given the budget. The water and electrical should hold up for now.”

 _Should? For now?_ Peridot had lived in some pretty rough rental units before, but that could hardly prepare her for the prospect of living in a run-down shack in the middle of nowhere with questionable plumbing. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Bismuth placed a hand on her shoulder, causing Peridot to jump a mile.

“I’m fine!” said Peridot, shaking spilled coffee off of her hand.

“Not what you expected, huh?” Bismuth’s smile was friendly, if a bit wary. “Look, it’s definitely going to be a lot of hard work, but this place has a ton of potential. The soil should be good for all kinds of crops, and there’s a lot of demand for local goods at farmers’ markets. You’ve inherited a hidden treasure for sure.” A strong gust of wind shook the cottage, the loud creaking making it sound like it was about to collapse at any moment. “Yeah, a lot of work, though.”

“Biiiiis!” A rail-thin woman with pale skin and an impossibly pointy nose was calling from the entrance to the farm. “Is that the new farmer?”

“Sure is!” said Bismuth. “Pearl, Peridot. Peridot, Pearl. She’s the mayor of Pelican Town.”

“The mayor?” said Peridot, surprised. “You came out here to meet me?”

“Oh, yes, well, it’s not every day someone new moves into town.” Her gaze swept over the dilapidated farm. “Oh, my, this place is in worse shape than I remembered. Just _look_ at that greenhouse! I’m so glad we’re getting an experienced farmer to restore the old farm to its former glory.”

Peridot, who had spent the entirety of the past two weeks piecing together farming skills from the internet, nodded. “Of course!”

“Here, I brought you a little something to start you out.” She handed Peridot a small box. “It’s mostly parsnip seeds left over from my garden. They should grow well in the soil here.”

“Thanks!” Peridot accepted the box. She had researched and bought a mix of seeds wholesale from the internet, but that hadn’t included parsnips.

“Once you get settled in and have some spare time, you should come into Pelican Town and introduce yourself. It’s a small town, and I’m sure people will be happy to meet you. There’s usually a lively crowd at the Stardrop Saloon on weekends.”

“Okay, that sounds like fun,” said Peridot, clutching the box of seeds and trying hard not to think about how much she was in over her head.

“I’ll leave you to it. Good luck with the planting!” Pearl walked off.

“Yeah, I better get going too,” said Bismuth. “If you have any problems with the house, let me know, okay? Especially if you need the house renovated or expanded, or if you need farm buildings, or want that greenhouse fixed.... let’s just say I could use the money.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Peridot had already spent a larger amount of her savings than she would have liked just to pay Bismuth to get the cottage in a livable condition. It was hard to imagine making enough with her farm to actually renovate it.

Bismuth cheerfully waved goodbye. Peridot was left alone on the overgrown field, with nothing but her own doubts and way too much tall grass to clear. Despite her fears, she wasn’t about to go home in shame on her very first day, and the field wasn’t going to clear itself, so that only left her with one choice. She opened the trunk of her car and took out the assortment of gently used tools she had purchased, along with her bags of seeds. As she slammed the door shut, her phone buzzed, and she checked her messages.

 **Mom:** Have you tried checking with your supervisor about getting your job back? 

**Mom:** I hope you realize that your father and I are just worried about you.

That was the last thing she wanted to deal with, but she should at least respond so that her mom didn’t panic that something had happened to her.

 **Peridisaster:** I’M FINE. MADE IT TO STARDEW VALLEY. TALK LATER.

She clicked off her phone, dug her shovel into the rich soil, and hit a rock with enough force to vibrate her entire body.

* * *

As the sun set outside, Peridot dragged herself across the threshold of her new cottage. Every single muscle in her body ached. She collapsed onto the bed, lamenting all the times she had skipped yoga to go home and play video games – which was probably more times than she had actually been to yoga.

The inside of the cottage was as modest as the outside, and the setup and amenities reminded her of a rustic version of her first studio apartment. There was a small alley kitchen with a refrigerator, stove, and next to no counter space. Next to that was a living area consisting of a few chairs, a table, and an old CRT TV. The bedroom was simply a bed, a nightstand, and a large wooden chest at the foot of the bed. Apart from the doors leading to the bathroom and the utility closet, the only other notable feature of the cottage was an inviting looking stone fireplace. Peridot made a note to herself to learn how to use it without burning the place down.

Right now, however, she was focused on not dying. She had cleared out a surprisingly large section of the field and had planted the bulk of her seeds – Pearl’s parsnips, but also potatoes, cauliflower, green beans, kale, and some tulips for decoration. This triumph had come with the heavy cost of the use of her arms and legs.

Of course, her phone chose that moment to begin buzzing.

Peridot groaned and clumsily rolled over as best as she could, determined to ignore it. It was probably her mother again, and she was in no mood to try to pretend like everything was fine and all of her life choices were well-considered and unimpeachable.

Her phone buzzed again. And again.

Her resolve crumbled and she checked. 

**SpaceAttorney:** Peri! Did you make it to Stardew Valley?

 **SpaceAttorney:** How’s the farm?

 **SpaceAttorney:** Does it look anything like the pictures?

Peridot breathed a sigh of relief. 

**Peridisaster:** YEAH I MADE IT

 **Peridisaster:** LET ME JUST VIDEO CALL YOU, IT’LL BE FASTER

A second later, a familiar face popped up on her phone screen. She had round, silver glasses, hair pulled back into a tight bun, and a facial expression that rode the line between stress and utter panic. “Hi, Peri! Oh my stars, what happened to you? You look like you fell into a thresher.”

“Hey, Zircs. Nice to see you, too.”

“Sorry!” Zircon nervously drummed the side of a coffee mug. “You just seem totally exhausted.”

“Well, yeah. I spent the entire day digging up grass and rocks. How are there so many rocks in the ground? It was like they were continuously respawning. Why would the Earth do this to me?”

“That sounds deeply unpleasant.”

“I got most of my seeds planted, at least. Now I just have to, you know, water them. Weed them. Fertilize them. Tell them I made them in my image and they have to do what I say.”

“That last bit seems unnecessary.”

“That’s because you haven’t been studying farming like I have.”

“No, I suppose I haven’t.” Zircon took a long, thoughtful sip of coffee.

“I’m going to be fine,” said Peridot, in response to the unspoken concerns written all over Zircon’s face. “It was really hard work, and my useless physical form may give out at any second, but it’s a start.”

Zircon sighed. “A start is good. I just can’t help but worry.”

“You worry about everything.”

“Yes, but this is an entirely new level of worry! It isn’t every day your best friend decides to run off and live on a farm, armed mostly with printed-out forum posts.”

“We’ve been over this! I know you think I’m crazy. I probably am actually crazy. But I couldn’t spend another day in that horrible cloddy job with that horrible cloddy supervisor breathing down my neck.”

“I do understand that. I just think that maybe there was some middle ground between working a soul-crushing job for JojaCorp forever and literally running away to the country.”

“Middle ground, huh? You’re one to talk. What happened to working for a non-profit? What happened to ‘I’ll never do corporate law, I want to help real people’?”

Zircon looked wounded, and Peridot felt bad that she had gone too far. “I don’t like it either, but it’ll help my career. Plus, I needed something to pay off the student loans.”

“Don’t think I don’t see you mainlining coffee after sunset.”

“I have an important deadline in a couple days.”

“All I’m saying is that you’d better not work yourself to death while I’m not around.”

“I could say the same to you, farmer,” said Zircon. She looked wistful. “Are you at least happy there?”

That was a complicated question, to say the least. She was sore all over, and her physical pain didn’t even compare to her growing terror that she really didn’t know what she was doing and that she wasn’t going to make it. All day long, she had kept visualizing it over and over: her crops rotting in the ground, her savings running out, her forced return to cubicle life with nothing to show for it but a gap on her resume and blisters on her hands. Fear of that outcome had been the primary thing sustaining her when she hit yet another buried rock.

Still, there had been fresh air, and sunshine, and the sweet smell of flowers. It was far from the worst day she’d had.

“I’m not really happy yet,” she said, “but I think maybe I could be.”

“Well, that’s a start.”

“Yeah. It’s a start.”

* * *

Peridot groaned and stumbled out onto her porch at 7am. Several days of weeding, watering, and struggling to clear out more farmland so she could plant more seeds had left her feeling like she had fallen down several cliffs, hitting every rock on the way. She rubbed at her bleary eyes, trying to see in the blindingly bright morning sun.

Green.

Specifically, tiny green plants in her field.

She rubbed her eyes again, not sure of what she was seeing. Maybe it was a hallucination. Maybe she was still asleep and dreaming. Maybe it was just a weed.

She looked closer, examined the green sprouts from every angle. There was no mistaking it. Her parsnips were starting to come up. And when she looked across the field, she could see other sprouts struggling to be born: potatoes showing off miniscule leaves, green beans producing their curled vines.

“I did it! I did it!” she shouted at the sproutlings. “I grew you! I’m an actual farmer!”

“A few small plants sprouting doesn’t mean you’re a success, Peri,” she said to herself as she ran back to the porch to fetch her watering can. “They could still die, or fail to produce actual vegetables, or get eaten by crows, or any number of catastrophes.”

“Stop being such a clod,” she admonished herself. “This is unquestionably an excellent development! You deserve some time off tonight. Maybe go into town like Pearl had suggested.” She put down the watering can and wiped sweat off her brow. “Perhaps it would also be good to have some actual human contact, considering how much you’ve started talking to yourself.”

So it was that Peridot, instead of collapsing into bed, willed her tired limbs to walk into town once her work was done. She passed a few darkened shops and a small clinic on her way to what seemed to be one of the only lively spots around, the Stardrop Saloon. A few blocks in the distance, she could see the blue glow of the JojaMart sign – even here, she couldn’t escape them.

The inside of the Saloon was like a relic of a bygone era. The warm crackle of the fireplace and soft music from the jukebox were inviting, but the general demeanour of the small crowd gathered inside was much less so. A few heads turned, regarding her coldly before returning to their drinks and meals. Bismuth waved from a table near the bar before returning to her conversation with Pearl.

Perhaps human interaction wasn’t going to be forthcoming here, but at least she could get something to eat. She sat down at a table not far from Bismuth and Pearl. A woman with bushy hair that mostly covered her eyes was flitting around the patrons, seemingly the establishment’s only waitress. 

A loud, raucous laugh caught Peridot’s attention. There was a separate room connected to the main bar and dining area that contained a billiards table and some arcade machines, and a couple of people her age were playing pool. A short, stocky woman with a wild shock of unkempt purple hair was lining up a shot. Across the table, a tired-looking young man with dark curly hair and a bright pink jacket cheered when she managed to sink a ball.

A sudden sense of unease clued Peridot to the fact that someone was watching her. She turned slightly and saw a young woman in the corner, holding a large sketchbook in her arms. She had short blue hair and deep blue eyes that were somehow both blank and frighteningly intense at the same time. Peridot couldn’t look away, and neither did the woman. They sat with eyes locked across the crowded saloon.

“May I take your order?” The soft voice of the waitress startled Peridot, forcing her to break eye contact with the intense stranger. 

“Uh, yeah!” she said, realizing she hadn’t actually thought about what she wanted to eat. She glanced up at the chalkboard above the bar. The daily special was “spicy zucchini fritters,” and that sounded like heaven after days of subsisting off of ramen and cereal. “The special, please! And a cola.”

“Of course,” said the waitress. She pushed her hair off of her forehead, revealing that one eye was covered with an eyepatch. “Hmmm.”

“What?” said Peridot, who was feeling increasingly self-conscious about the amount of people who had been staring at her.

“You have a very interesting destiny, Peridot,” she said. “I’ll look forward to seeing it.”

“How did you know my name?” Peridot asked, but the waitress had already returned to the bar, handing the order slip to a broad-shouldered woman with bright red hair. They were both giggling and blushing.

It was probably nothing to worry about. It was a small town, and Peridot’s occupation of the old farm might be the most exciting thing that had happened in weeks. 

She glanced over to where the stranger with the sketchbook had been, only to find her table unoccupied.

A few minutes later, Peridot was presented with a small plastic basket filled with piping hot zucchini fritters, complete with marinara sauce for dipping. They were objectively nothing special, but after having performed more physical labor than she ever had in her life, they tasted better than anything she could remember.

“You can’t be serious, Pearl.” Bismuth’s raised voice caught her attention.

“Not so loud, Bis.” Pearl was blushing and looking around. “I don’t think I have much of a choice. If I turn this down, I have no chance of being re-elected mayor. I’ll be raked across the coals. I can see the headline: ‘Mayor Pearl Hates Jobs.’”

“This is more important than re-election! Haven’t you read about the working conditions in Joja warehouses?”

“Tell that to the unemployed people,” said Pearl. “I don’t like it, either, but the tourism initiative is going nowhere. Without that, we have to do something. This town is dying and everyone knows it.”

“Aw, c’mon, Pearl –”

“We shouldn’t be discussing this here.” Pearl sat up straighter and plastered on a fake smile. “So, how about those Zuzu City Tunnelers?”

Peridot, embarrassed about eavesdropping, returned to devouring her fritters. She was just finishing the last one and considering ordering more when a hand slammed down on the table next to her.

“Hey there!” said the purple-haired woman from the pool table. “You’re new in town, right?”

“Amethyst!” Her friend with the pink jacket was right behind her. “We shouldn’t bother her while she’s eating.”

“Oh, it’s fine,” said Peridot. “Amethyst, is it?”

“Yup, and this is Steven.”

“Hello!” Steven waved cheerfully.

“You must be Peridot. Everyone’s talking about you.”

“Not in a bad way!” Steven hastily clarified. “We don’t get a lot of new people, and we heard you moved into the abandoned farm…”

“Yeah, did you buy that place or what?”

“I inherited it,” said Peridot. “It’s complicated.” No one in her family had been more surprised than Peridot when the will from her long-estranged aunt had arrived. Peridot didn’t understand why she bequeathed her farm to a niece she had only met a few times. She did, however, understand why she would have wanted to leave the family.

“Are you going to fix it up? Are you going to plant crops?” Steven seemed far more excited about farming than Peridot would have expected.

“Well, I’m making an attempt. I’ve spent a great deal of time studying –”

“So you’re actually farming? A scrawny nerd like you?” said Amethyst, leaning into Peridot’s personal space. “No offense.”

“Uh…” 

Before Peridot could figure out how to respond to that, a very put-together young woman walked into the saloon. She had thick glasses and a polo shirt, and was carrying a heavily laden backpack. “Hi, Steven! Hi, Amethyst!” she called, walking over to the table. 

“Hey, Connie!” said Steven, all tiredness immediately vanishing from his face. “This is Peridot. She’s working on the abandoned farm.”

“Really? That’s great! I guess it means I have to stop collecting specimens there, though.”

“Specimens?” said Peridot, interested. “What kinds?”

“Oh, there’s a lot of rare flora in the valley. Especially mushrooms.” In the blink of an eye, Connie had deposited her backpack on one of the seats and pulled out an enormous notebook brimming with neon index tabs. She opened it to a page with several drawings of mushrooms done in colored pencil, putting the book down in front of Peridot. “I’m writing my dissertation on it. I think some of the mushrooms might even have medicinal properties. Those fields sometimes have some good examples – though usually the forest is a better bet.”

“That sounds fascinating,” said Peridot, sincerely. “Just out of curiosity, are any of those mushrooms… worth anything?”

“Probably,” said Connie, heartbroken. “Some of them are very rare. But my work…”

“No, no, no!” said Peridot. “I don’t want to interfere with your research. I’m wondering if perhaps we could strike a deal. You can continue to look for specimens on my farm, but if you find any that you don’t need, perhaps we could sell them and split the profits.”

“That’s a great idea! Honestly, I could really use the money, too.”

“Same,” said Amethyst. “Maybe I should get in on this mushroom business.”

“So what do you do for a living?” asked Peridot.

Amethyst slouched over on her chair. “Oh, y’know, perpetually failing out of online college. Living with my parents. Working at a convenience store when I feel like showing up.”

“Oh, that’s, uh…” Peridot struggled to think of something tactful to say.

“Great, right?” Amethyst was grinning, and Peridot had no idea if she was being sarcastic.

“What do you do, Steven?” she asked, changing the subject.

“I work on a ranch. My mom’s ranch, actually.”

“A ranch! How is that?”

“Oh, I love it! Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of working on the ranch. Especially taking care of the chickens. I get fresh eggs and milk every day, too.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I guess it’s not always easy, though.”

“You’re doing the best you can,” said Connie, patting his arm reassuringly.

“You are!” Amethyst agreed. “Hey, maybe the new farmer wants some chickens!”

“I don’t know how to raise chickens.”

“I could show you!” said Steven. “Not that you have to buy any chickens from me! But if you _did_ want to buy some chickens…”

“So, yeah, that’s us,” said Amethyst. “Buncha broke nerds in a dead-end town.”

“Well, maybe I’ve come to the right place,” said Peridot. “I happen to be a fairly broke nerd myself.”

“What was your career?” asked Steven.

“...developing marketing software for JojaCorp,” said Peridot, blushing.

“Wow. You’re way better off here,” said Amethyst.

“You think so?”

“Oh, yeah.” She clapped Peridot on the back. “You’re one of us, now! You need anything, just ask! Except maybe money. We’re all kinda short on money.” For all her lack of tact, Amethyst’s offer seemed sincere.

“Really? Wow, thanks!” said Peridot.

“Welcome to Stardew Valley!” said Steven.

“We should celebrate!” Amethyst waved over the waitress. “Yo, Sapph! Can we get a couple baskets of zucchini fritters?”

Peridot smiled, feeling more reassured than she had in days. 

* * *

The next day, Peridot woke up to the gentle sound of rain tapping against the roof and windows of the little cottage. She lay snuggled in her cocoon of blankets, watching the raindrops hit the window in the early morning light, grateful that she at least wouldn’t need to manually water her plants that day. It was as good an excuse as any to sleep in a bit, especially since she had gotten home fairly late from the saloon.

The cottage was modest, and entirely lacking in amenities, but at least she was warm and safe curled up in bed. She allowed herself a small measure of contentment before getting up to take care of her chores.

The rain stopped before she had finished getting ready to go outside. She made quick work of the weeding and maintenance tasks, and decided to forgo clearing out more of the field in favor of something new – foraging. Connie had said that the woods just outside of her farm were chock full of both rare and edible plants, and it hadn’t been hard to find beginner foraging guides on the internet. With any luck, she could find something to eat, something to sell, something to show Connie, or maybe a bit of each.

The woods were very different from the “green spaces” she had walked through in the city, or even the meager woods of her childhood suburbs. The rudimentary paths were choked with undergrowth and barely visible, and the trees grew so thick that they blotted out the sunlight. Even staying on the path was an exercise in tripping over roots, twisting her ankles in holes, and being scratched on all sides by bushes and twigs. 

The fifth or so tree branch to hit her square in the face was almost the last straw to send her back home – but then she spotted, just off the path, a group of large, brown mushrooms. A quick check of her guide verified that they were not only edible but delicious when pan-fried, and she gleefully gathered up the lot, partially filling her basket. 

As she searched her immediate surroundings for more, something pink caught her eye. She crashed ungracefully through the underbrush and found that not only was it a berry bush, but an entire grove full of them. As she scanned through her foraging guide, trying to decide whether the berries were deadly yew berries or delicious salmonberries, she heard soft rustling behind her.

“Hey.”

Peridot jumped, rattling the bushes and sending ripe berries cascading to the forest floor. She whipped around to see the woman with the sketchbook from last night, leaned up against a tree, her blue dress spread out in the grass.

“You scared me!”

“Are you seriously looking up on your phone whether or not the berries are poisonous?”

“Yes. What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing, if you want to die.” She looked at Peridot’s basket. “Mushrooms, too, huh? Those are good if you want to die _and_ hallucinate at the same time.”

Peridot held the basket away from her, regarding the mushrooms with suspicion. “There are psychoactive mushrooms in these woods?”

“Uh, yeah. You probably wanted to know that _before_ you started foraging.”

“So if looking up plants on my phone isn’t a good idea, what is?” Peridot said, narrowing her eyes.

“I dunno. I learned to forage from my grandma.” She shrugged. “Actually, I think all your mushrooms are fine, and so are those berries. I’ll probably gather some myself later.”

“Who are you, anyway? I saw you looking at me in the saloon last night.”

“Lapis,” she said, her tone guarded. “And you’re Peridot, the new farmer everyone’s talking about. The one they think won’t last a week.”

“They said that about me?” Peridot was mildly offended, but not exactly surprised. A city girl who thought she could turn an abandoned farm around? She’d probably make the same bet, in their shoes.

“Eh, they said that about me too, and I’m still here.”

“So you weren’t born here, then?”

“Nah. I moved into a cottage on the beach a few years ago. When you’re a starving artist, a shack in a run down town is the best waterfront property you can get.”

“You’re an artist?” Peridot’s face lit up. She loved the arts, even if she had no talent for actually making anything.

“Yeah, ask me how that’s going.”

“How is that going?”

“Going so well I’m probably gonna pick mushrooms for my next couple lunches.”

Peridot nodded sympathetically. “I’m really no different. I spent most of my savings on getting the cottage fixed up and buying supplies for the farm. If I’m unable to produce viable crops…” She’d turned over this scenario over and over again in her head. She’d have to go back to the city, maybe crash on Zircon’s couch for a while before picking up another corporate job. She could just see herself writing out algorithms on a whiteboard in front of some bored interviewer, trying to think of a reason for a gap in her resume that wasn’t a failed attempt at farming. The thought was unbearable.

Lapis stood up and brushed detritus off of her clothes. “You want my advice? I mean, probably not.”

“Sure.”

“Leave.”

“Leave?” Peridot’s heart lurched.

“Nothing personal.” Lapis’ eyes darkened. “The valley is like… a big nexus of failure. Jobs don’t stay, people don’t stay, not if they have anywhere else to be. Don’t get trapped here like me.”

“Trapped? What do you mean?”

“See you round, Peridot.” Lapis walked off in the opposite direction of the path, surprisingly quiet given the amount of twigs and leaves on the ground.

Peridot watched her go, a strange tightness in her chest. She wanted to say that it was just because of Lapis’ foreboding words, but the truth was that something about Lapis made Peridot want to see her again. Maybe it was the way the morning sunlight lit up her hair, or her little half-smirk after surprising Peridot.

She shook her head, snapping herself out of it. Her new life was going to be hard enough without immediately developing a crush on the local troubled artist, one who probably wanted nothing to do with her.

* * *

Peridot’s newly fueled fear of failure caused her to throw herself into her work for the next couple of days, tending to her current batch of spring crops and anxiously willing them to grow. She had been so productive that when unseasonably cold weather hit, she decided to allow herself a bit of a break. Instead of immediately dashing out the door to water and weed, she brewed her coffee, built a small fire, and wrapped up in a blanket in front of it, watching the morning sunlight stream in through the window from the relative comfort of the cottage.

When she did emerge, almost an hour later, she nearly tripped over something on her porch that she was sure hadn’t been there last night. It was a smallish book in plain green library binding, now coated in a thin layer of dew. She picked it up and flipped through it – the typeface and general style indicated that it was many decades old, and it was filled with various illustrations and descriptions of different types of plants and mushrooms.

As she was flipping the pages, a folded-up piece of sketchbook paper fell out. 

_This is a book that my grandma gave me to help learn how to forage. I figured I better pass it along so you don’t get yourself killed. Maybe don’t eat any mushrooms unless you’re really, really sure they’re not poisonous. –L_

She flipped the note over. The reverse side had a rough pencil sketch of her standing in a grove of trees, holding a basket. Her hair was a messy disaster and the expression on her face was pure confusion. This must be how she had looked to Lapis that day. No wonder she thought Peridot was a danger to herself.

It took a moment to sink in that Lapis had actually stopped by the farm to give her a present. She had delivered it in a way that avoided the possibility of interaction, but still, it proved Lapis didn’t want her to die, which was at least thoughtful.

The book almost distracted Peridot from the fact that her crops were growing up surprisingly tall, particularly the parsnips she had planted on the first day. According to her research, this breed of parsnips might actually be ready. 

She kneeled down and considered the most well-developed of the plants. The stalk grew tall and strong from the ground, daring her to pull it up and take a look. She was dying to know if she had actually been successful in producing a viable crop, but if she pulled it prematurely, she would have ruined a plant’s growth for no reason but her own impatience.

Peridot was still locked in a fruitless staring contest with the plant when Steven arrived at the entrance to her farm, plastic carrier in tow. “Good morning, Peridot!” he said, his cheerful voice a contrast to his tired eyes. He was wearing a JojaCorp uniform shirt under his pink jacket.

“Steven!” said Peridot, the spell broken. “Hi! What are you doing out here?” 

“So… my friend Sadie found a litter of abandoned kittens next to the Big Donut. She brought them to me, since I guess I’m kind of the animal person around here, but now I’m trying to find homes for them. I thought, you have a lot of room on the farm, right?”

Peridot peered inside the cage. A tiny, fluffy, roundish, orange striped kitten, partially hidden under an old washcloth, peered back at her. The kitten was impossibly cute, and Peridot recognized that she had to figure out a polite way to reject it fast before her desire to cuddle the adorable puffball overtook her common sense.

“I’m not sure I can afford another mouth to feed, Steven. I’m already living primarily off of instant ramen.”

“I know. I get it. But don’t you think she could probably fend for herself? The whole point of a farm cat is to get rid of mice and bugs, right?”

“I suppose, but I don’t have any of the supplies I need.”

“Oh, I have some spare food and litter and stuff! I could bring it by later if you wanted.”

“But...” The kitten let out a tiny mew, and her resolve was broken. She could practically feel her icy heart melting as she imagined cuddling up with a soft, warm cat after a long day on the farm.

“But what?” asked Steven.

“Pumpkin,” said Peridot.

“Pumpkin?”

“That’s what I’ll name her. Pumpkin. She’s orange and lives on a farm, right? I guess I could call her Carrot, but she’s more round than pointy, wouldn’t you say, Steven?”

Steven’s enormous grin threatened to overtake his entire face. “That’s a great name! I’m so happy Pumpkin’s getting to live on a nice farm with a nice human.”

Peridot couldn’t help but think that Steven barely knew her and that the farm was still far from “nice,” but it was better not to argue the point. “I’d better take her inside, at least until she’s bigger. You can come in, if you want.”

Steven trailed behind her as she opened up the cage and let the kitten free. The kitten looked around the cottage briefly, letting out another soft mew, before beelining to the fireplace and curling into a ball nearby.

“Wish I could spend all day in front of the fire, too,” said Peridot.

“How’s your farm going, anyway?”

“Excellently! I believe my first crops might be nearing completion!” Years of dealing with imposter syndrome at work had given Peridot ample practice at saying things with far more conviction than she actually felt.

“That’s great! Can I see?”

“Well… yes. Of course.” Peridot went back out the door, leading Steven to the parsnip that had stubbornly withstood Peridot’s withering gaze. “Ta-da! Look how much this parsnip has grown!”

“How can you tell when it’s ready to pick?”

Peridot’s eye twitched.

“Um, are you okay?” said Steven with concern.

“I don’t know, Steven!” Her frustration boiled over. “This crop is sitting in the ground, hiding its secrets, _taunting me._ It’s ridiculous that in the modern age we haven’t invented crops that just tell you when they’re ready. Maybe their leaves could turn blue, or they could sprout a tiny sign.”

“That seems like it’d be pretty hard to do,” said Steven. “Don’t you have a lot of parsnips growing? Couldn’t you just pull one up to check?”

Peridot’s mouth opened and closed. “...Yes.”

“So why don’t you?”

She crumpled to the ground in frustration. “I don’t know. I guess… I’m scared.”

“Scared?”

Peridot really hadn’t intended to spill her troubles to Steven or anyone else. Deep down, she knew that her lack of experience made the farm a risky venture. The more she admitted that she wasn’t sure of what she was doing, the more she couldn’t hide her doubts from herself. Still, it was probably too late for that now, and Steven did seem surprisingly trustworthy for someone she had so recently met.

“Steven, if I pull up that parsnip, and it’s unsatisfactory, then what does that mean?”

“Um…” Steven seemed mildly confused. “That you need to leave the others in the ground a little longer?”

“No! You don’t get it!” Peridot grabbed Steven by the jacket lapels. “If I can’t manage to grow even the simplest of crops, then this entire venture is doomed! I’ll have to return to the city and write interview questions on whiteboards and if I have to spend _one more day_ in a meeting with a manager who can’t even grasp the basics of allocating resources I am going to _lose it,_ Steven, I mean it!”

Steven blinked slowly. Peridot released Steven’s jacket, realizing she had been acting unhinged. So much for a new friend in the valley – he’d definitely be going back to town and telling everyone the new farmer was just as crazy as they’d imagined.

“Actually, I totally get it,” he said.

“Wait, you do?”

“Maybe not exactly, but yeah, I kinda do. You’re worried that you’re going to mess up and lose the farm, right?”

Peridot nodded.

“It’s kind of the same way with me. See, my mom left the ranch to me, but she also owed a lot of money. I had to sell off most of the animals and equipment to pay the debt. Without animals, I can’t make money, and without money, I can’t replace the animals.” He sighed and kicked restlessly at the ground. “That’s why I’m working part time at JojaMart.”

“I didn’t know you were trying to run a ranch all by yourself,” Peridot said, finding newfound respect for Steven.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s not so bad! I do love the ranch. It’s just that my mom was so good with the animals. What if I ruin it? What will I do then?” He wiped a tear out of his eye. “Sorry, we were just talking about parsnips. I didn’t mean to be a downer.”

“No, it’s okay! I don’t know what I’ll do if I mess this up, either. I kind of burned most of my bridges to get here.”

“So you couldn’t just go back to your old job?”

“I called my supervisor a clod right to her face.”

“Oh. I guess not.”

“My mom thinks I’m throwing my life away. Even my best friend thinks I’m going to die out here.” Peridot inhaled deeply. “I just want to grow some vegetables. Is that too much to ask?”

“No, it isn’t!” said Steven, reassuringly. “I think you can do it.”

“Really? You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

“No! I mean, I do want you to feel better, but I can also tell you’re working really hard and care a lot.”

“Thanks,” said Peridot. She looked out over her field, the small patch of cleared dirt and green crops still dwarfed by the surrounding expanse of tall grass and weeds. “Steven, do you think this farm would be a good place to raise chickens?”

“Yeah!” His face lit up. “You have plenty of room for a coop, and lots of land for them to run around. You’d probably want to fence out some space for them so they’re safe from predators. I could teach you all about it!”

“Well, then, if my farm doesn’t totally crash and burn, I’ll have to take you up on that offer!”

“Really? That’d be great!” He looked back at the green sprout in front of them. “I guess there really is a lot riding on these parsnips, huh?”

“Yeah.” Peridot rolled up her sleeve and grabbed the stalk. “Drumroll, please?”

“Oh, uh –” Steven began drumming with his hands on his knees.

“Three… two… one!” Peridot closed her eyes and pulled the parsnip, feeling a bit of resistance from its roots. When she opened her eyes again, she was holding…

“A completely normal, perfectly average parsnip.”

“Yeah, it looks good!”

Peridot continued to stare at the unremarkable vegetable in her hand. “It’s a real parsnip. Completely within parameters.”

“Are you okay?”

She raised the parsnip into the air triumphantly while bouncing from foot to foot. “I’m better than okay, Steven. This is amazing! I did it! I grew an actual vegetable!”

“You did! I’m happy for you!”

“And do you know what this means?”

“What?”

“It means I’m not going to die out here!” 

“...did you really think you were?”

Peridot was busy holding the parsnip up to her face and taking a selfie. “I’ve gotta show everyone this parsnip!”

 **Peridisaster:** MY FIRST VEGETABLE HARVEST!!!

It was only a few minutes before she had a response from her mother:

 **Mom:** Looks good dear. Have you lost weight? You look very tired.

Peridot scowled and put her phone away.

* * *

The lush, green forest was eerily quiet, save for birdsong and the muffled noise of Peridot’s footsteps on damp leaves. Between the clouds stubbornly covering the sun and the canopy of trees overhead, she almost had to use a flashlight to navigate, even though it was the middle of the day. It made her feel as though she had stepped into a setting from a fairy tale – not the sanitized ones from nursery school books, but the older ones full of death and violence and dire morals. She half-expected one of the fair folk to cross her path, or to turn and see a forest spirit watching her from the trees.

Of course, nothing like that actually happened in real life, she reminded herself, using Lapis’ book to identify a small patch of wild onion. 

After several grueling days of harvesting and planting new parsnips, she had allowed herself an afternoon of foraging, as a break. The average-sized, extremely normal parsnips had been shipped off to a buyer that promised a small premium for organic vegetables from local farms. It was the kind of thing she used to roll her eyes at in the grocery store, on her way to fill her cart with microwavable burritos.

The onions were a nice find, but she had really hoped to find Lapis, so she could thank her for the book. Lapis hadn’t been at the saloon yesterday, and tracking down her beach cottage would probably be weird, so Peridot felt that she had no choice but to randomly run across her in the woods. She had already visited the spot where they had met before, and found nothing but a lot of ripe salmonberries, which at least gave her something to snack on.

Peridot huffed and puffed, out of breath, as the ground sloped upward. She was at the foot of the mountains, now, a place that the book assured her might have some rare forage. As she skirted a rocky cliff face, the trees and undergrowth grew thinner, until she finally emerged in a small clearing. 

There was a dark hole in the cliff face, easily large enough for a human to walk into. It was framed by rotting wood planks – the remnants of an old mine, perhaps. She wondered if anyone from town knew about this.

Entering an abandoned mine would be extremely foolish, of course. Wild animals, deadly gases, and cave-ins were just a few of the dangers she could think of off the top of her head. Besides, if there was anything valuable inside, it probably wouldn’t have been abandoned.

Still, Peridot hadn’t gotten this far by making safe and sensible choices.

She stepped a few feet into the mine, listening intently for even the smallest sound. Sweeping her flashlight around, she saw that the walls were glittering. The veins of metal looked almost like copper, but that couldn’t be right – if this mine were that rich with copper, surely it would have been mined out by now.

A little further into the mine, another feature caught her eye. A white, dusty patch of the cave wall differed from its surroundings. Enormous, milky white crystals littered the ground. It looked like a quartz deposit, but again, that seemed too valuable to have been left behind.

As Peridot stood there, pondering the mystery of the place, she caught something green and moving just in the corner of her eye. She whipped her flashlight around just fast enough to spot the slime as it bounced away. She involuntarily shuddered. Ordinary green slimes weren’t dangerous at all, but they left gross residue everywhere that would corrode your shoes and clothes. She’d have to wash out everything she was wearing once she got back to the farm.

Slimes weren’t pleasant, but they were trivial to kill or repel. They certainly couldn’t have been the reason a viable mine was abandoned. Her hands shook as her imagination ran wild with all of the possibilities, from the realistic to the outlandish. Radioactivity? Mummy’s curse? Aliens?

Somewhere behind her, a bat nestled on the ceiling rustled its leathery wings. That was enough to set Peridot off – she involuntarily shrieked at the top of her lungs.

It took her a moment to realize that there was a second scream echoing off of the cave walls.

Peridot wanted to flee, back to the entrance, back to her farm, back to her apartment in the city where she had been miserable but at least she hadn’t been trapped in a cave with a creature that was probably a mummy or an alien. Unfortunately, fear kept her frozen in place.

“Who’s there?” called a young woman. “Show yourself! I have a sword!”

Peridot saw a faint glow approaching in the gloom of the cave, and pointed her flashlight at it to reveal…

“Connie?”

“Peridot?” She cautiously lowered her sword. As she moved closer, Peridot could see light coming from a ring on her hand. “What are you doing here? How did you find this?”

“I was just out foraging. What are you doing in an abandoned mine?”

“It’s not an abandoned mine, and I guess I could ask you the same thing.”

“I was just…” Trying to actually explain to another person why she had wandered into what she believed to be an abandoned mine made her feel foolish. “I’m exploring,” she finished. “So if it’s not an abandoned mine, what is it?”

“It’s just a cave. It’s on the property of this woman who lives in the woods nearby. Her name is Garnet, and she’s really nice. Some of the superstitious old people in town think she’s a witch just because she lives alone in the woods.”

Peridot fidgeted with her flashlight. “Does she know how much valuable stuff is in here? She could make a fortune.”

“She knows, she just doesn’t care.”

“Why not?”

“She’s worried about being pressured into selling to Joja.” Connie looked around the cave, grinding crystal dust down with her foot. “She says this cave has important magical energy, and that selling the land for development would disrupt the forest spirits.”

Peridot’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you said she wasn’t a witch.”

“She’s not! She just has older beliefs.”

“That doesn’t explain what you’re doing here, though.”

“I like to come here to explore the caves. And sometimes just to read and be alone.” Connie seemed embarrassed. 

Peridot, however, was intrigued. “How far back do the caves go?”

“Pretty far! There’s a lot of cool stuff here. I’ve found rare mushrooms, iron veins, even gemstones. It can get kind of dangerous, though. There’s bats and other animals. That’s why I carry this sword.”

“That’s so cool!” said Peridot, stars in her eyes. “Do you think Garnet would mind if I explored the caves, too?”

“I’m not supposed to tell anyone about it!” Connie panicked. “She doesn’t want everyone to know. And I really, really don’t want my mom to find out what I’ve been doing. She’d throw a fit.”

“You know, you’re an adult. You don’t have to listen to what your mom thinks.”

“Easier said than done,” mumbled Connie.

Peridot nodded, understanding. “I promise I won’t tell anyone.” 

Connie breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Peridot. I could ask Garnet about you, if you want. She lets me carry stuff out of here to sell, as long as I don’t take more than an armful at a time. She gave me this old sword, too, and this glow ring for protection.”

“She gave you a glowing ring for protection, and you’re _sure_ she’s not a witch?”

“I - I guess I can see why you’d think that.” Connie looked around nervously, and moved in closer, as though she were worried about someone overhearing them in a cave somehow. “I don’t believe in magic. Really! But there’s some weird stuff going on in this cave. I swear it changes its layout every time I enter. Like that quartz deposit behind you – I _know_ that wasn’t there last time. I know that sounds crazy, so I’ve been trying to catalogue it each time I come here. See?”

Peridot shined her flashlight on the notebook Connie was holding out to her. She flipped through the pages, filled with rudimentary maps. Her brow furrowed. She hadn’t known Connie for very long, but she definitely didn’t seem out of touch with reality. What she was saying was impossible, though. Wasn’t it?

“Just be careful if you come here, okay?” said Connie, full of concern.

“I will,” Peridot agreed. 

* * *

When Peridot returned to her farm, sore, scuffed up, and with a backpack full of quartz and geodes, the first thing she spotted was something metallic on her front porch. It was an old, slightly rusty sword, and just beneath it was a thick purple envelope.

Peridot felt her heart into her throat as she opened the envelope. Inside was a ring like Connie’s and a note:

_Peridot,_

_You have my permission to enter the mines, as long as you follow the same rules as Connie. Please be careful. If you are harmed, I may not be able to help you. If you tell anyone else, you will suffer a worse fate than the mummy curses or alien abductions you were imagining._

_Good luck with the farm. You have a very interesting destiny._

_– Garnet_

_P.S. I am not a witch._

Peridot dropped the letter in shock. How did she find out so fast? How did she know what Peridot had been _thinking?_

She was only broken out of her fugue by the sound of her phone buzzing.

 **SpaceAttorney:** Hi, Peri! Are you doing okay?

 **SpaceAttorney:** I haven’t heard from you since you sent those pictures of Pumpkin. I’m starting to get worried.

Peridot’s hands were shaking so badly that she nearly fumbled the phone as she tried to reply.

 **Peridisaster:** I’M FINE, I WAS JUST HANGING OUT IN AN ABANDONED MINE

 **Peridisaster:** I HAVE A SWORD NOW

 **Peridisaster:** I’M KIND OF AFRAID THERE’S A WITCH READING MY MIND THOUGH

 **SpaceAttorney:** Wow.

 **SpaceAttorney:** I am so much more worried than I was several minutes ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My brain: You should finish one of your other WIPs.
> 
> My heart: yeah but what if Professionals but Stardew Valley
> 
> This one goes out to [Glowbug](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowbug/pseuds/Glowbug) <3
> 
> Thanks for reading this story about having no idea what you're doing.


End file.
